CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE COVER-UP

CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE COVER-UP

Catholic League president William Donohue commented today on why the nation’s child sexual abuse cover-up is coming undone:

“It is not the Catholic Church that is impeding justice for the victims of child sexual molestation, it is Planned Parenthood and the ACLU.

“On March 1, some medical records of Planned Parenthood clinics were seized by the Medicaid fraud control unit of the Indiana attorney general’s office. The seizure was authorized to determine ‘whether or not children were neglected by virtue of a failure to report instances of child molestation to the proper authorities.’ Immediately, Planned Parenthood instructed its clinics not to cooperate. Yesterday, an Indiana judge ruled that Planned Parenthood must turn over its records. (In Indiana, anyone who is under 14 and is sexually active is considered a sexual abuse victim, and health care providers are required to report such cases to the authorities.) The local ACLU affiliate is representing Planned Parenthood: They consider it a ‘fishing expedition.’

“If a Catholic diocese were to refuse to turn over its priest personnel records to the authorities on the grounds that the request was a ‘fishing expedition,’ it would be labeled an obstruction of justice by every major media outlet in the nation; no doubt ‘60 Minutes’ and Showtime would find it grist for a story or a movie. But because the cover-up is being done by the darlings of the liberal establishment—Planned Parenthood and the ACLU—not a howl of protest can be heard.

“And it’s not just in Indiana—it’s all over. This is why I am writing today to every member of the New York State legislature urging adoption of a bill by State Senator Stephen Saland that would make no exemptions for abortion providers in mandating that child sexual abuse be reported to the authorities. Again, Planned Parenthood and the ACLU are the ones trying to stop this legislation (along with the National Association of Social Workers and the New York State Coalition Against Domestic Violence), and they have been doing so for three years. It’s time to end the cover-up, protect the kids and have one law for everyone.”